The German Canoe Association has demanded a clear line from the International Olympic Committee on the Russia question.
“We are aware that a reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes into the world of sports, as proposed by the IOC, would be extremely difficult,” said DKV President Jens Perlwitz in a statement from the association. The IOC is nevertheless “required to clarify fundamental questions”.
Perlwitz further explained: “You have to think hard about whether a state that is waging aggressive war is allowed to be part of the Olympic family, whether this state is allowed to host the Olympic Games and whether athletes from this state are allowed to participate in the games. The current trend emanating from the IOC is not, in our view, consistent with the Olympic movement.”
Since the situation in Ukraine “has not changed since the outbreak of war almost a year ago and peace is currently not foreseeable, there are hardly any possibilities for reintegration,” said the DKV President.
Canoeing in Germany will be directly confronted with the problem this year, with the White Water Sprint World Championships in Augsburg in mid-June, the Canoe Racing World Championships in Duisburg in August and the European Canoe Polo Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel in September be performed.
At the end of January, the IOC brought up the possibility of paving the way for athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to international competitions. One of the prerequisites the organization named was a strict representative decoupling of the activists from both countries from their nations. According to this draft, a start would only be possible without anthems, flags and national colors. But nothing has been decided yet, IOC President Thomas Bach recently asserted.